Homeowner Steve Shoaff peers over a fence to see a ransacked backyard, a telltale sign of another home abandoned after foreclosure. He's "underwater" on his mortgage but is planing to stick it out.

Homeowner Steve Shoaff peers over a fence to see a ransacked backyard, a telltale sign of another home abandoned after foreclosure. He's "underwater" on his mortgage but is planing to stick it out. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)